Rasta And Crew To Sail 700kms Following Humpback Whale Migration

Surfers For Cetaceans Crew To Sail From Byron Bay To Bondi Following Humpback Whale Migration

Dave Rastovich, Chris Del Moro, and Hilton Dawe to sail 700 kilometers following humpback whales in an attempt to raise awareness of the plight the animals encounter in a mission called “Transparent Sea”.

I just spoke with Surfers For Cetaceans USA Representative Chris Del Moro and while he’s excited, he’s also a bit sketched: “Yep, following Rasta into another crazy adventure. I have some sailing experience but the ocean down there is alive and filled with some big creatures and the wind can whip up out of nowhere.” Chris, Rasta, and Hilton will be traveling in specially designed 17-foot kayaks with a 12-foot sail attached. “I asked Rasta what we’re gonna do when the weather got bad and he was like, ‘Mate, just drop the sail and head in!’ so yeah I’m a little nervous but mostly excited.”—JC

In celebration of Rasta and Del Moro’s voyage, we’re giving away a big box full of Sticky Bumps gear including a sweet Tour Series Boardbag (1 board model), a Tour Series traction pad, a bunch of Sticky Bumps wax, gear and fin organizer, tee shirt, hat, leash, and even a Sticky Bumps candle. All you have to do to win is tell us in the comment box below to what lengths you would go to save the whales…be creative, be funny, and win! The winner will be picked in early September.

Here’s a synopsis of the voyage the boys will be taking:

Transparent Sea: A Modern Surfing Voyage With Ancient Creatures

For sixty million years the largest brains on Earth have swam and surfed harmoniously within the ocean. Today, industrialized man threatens the future of our oceans, whales and dolphins via commercial fishing, domestic, industrial and acoustic pollution, and direct kills. The Transparent Sea voyage expresses the surfing worlds desire to surf with cetaceans in an ocean that is clean, clear, and protected.

Noiselessly sailing and surfing within the humpbacks annual migration south our journey will see us parallel theirs as we hope to expose the human threats they face. With their newborn calves with them we’ll also highlight the majesty of these creatures that our oceans, and our world, cannot live without.

Our team of four will sail revolutionary new sailing kayaks down the Australian east coast through October 2009. Equipped with surfboards, hydrophones, cameras and food we will cover 700 kms of coastline with the whales, sleeping under the stars and traversing coastal currents. Stopping into towns that have joined the celebrated Humpback Whale Icon Project that sees coastal communities adopt specific humpbacks as their town icon, we will share our underwater acoustic recordings, images and experiences from the journey highlighting the issue of cetacean and ocean conservation.

Through multi media outlets we will be tracked as we travel from Byron to Bondi riding favorable north swells and wind. Diary entries will be publicized via leading ocean website Coastalwatch. Local print, radio and TV media will also cover our journey south highlighting each town that we dock into, discussing their iconic whale and the threats they may be facing. A climactic ending to the voyage on Bondi beach will also see our team join with ocean defenders the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in launching their 2009 Antarctic Whale campaign Operation Waltzing Matilda.

We will achieve this via mainstream and surfing media coverage of our personal contact with cetaceans down the east coast of Australia:

Three day internet diary entries via leading website Coastalwatch.
Print, radio and television updates at each major stop on the voyage.
Personal documentation of our journey through acoustic and visual recordings to be released in book and DVD format December 2009.
Meetings with local school and university students, life saving and board riders clubs, natural parks and wildlife services, marine protection agencies and coastal environmental groups.

CREW
Transparent Sea is a Surfers For Cetaceans project that will include key members of our organization.

The fourth sailing position within Transparent Sea is an open seat. Different legs of the journey will see different people take this position. Journalists, marine biologists, celebrities, professional surfers, environmental activists, artists, cinematographers and environmental scientists.

ROAD TEAM
Single vehicle road team will parallel our course as we move down the coast preparing media for interviews when we dock and supplying them with our previous days content, supplying locally grown food produce for us, downloading photos and text from our previous days voyage, uploading our content onto internet media, and capturing land based imagery of our team traversing the coast.

TRANSPARENT SEA PRODUCTS
The TRANSPARENT SEA voyage will be promoted via real time media tracking the journey, followed by a December release of a Transparent Sea A4 horizontal book with DVD short film insert.
100% recycled paper, non-toxic inks, no plastic wrap, recycled plastic DVD’s.

In celebration of Rasta and Del Moro’s voyage, we’re giving away a big box full of Sticky Bumps gear including a sweet Tour Series Boardbag (1 board model), a Tour Series traction pad, a bunch of Sticky Bumps wax, gear and fin organizer, tee shirt, hat, leash, and even a Sticky Bumps candle. All you have to do to win is tell us in the comment box below to what lengths you would go to save the whales…be creative, be funny, and win! The winner will be picked in early September.